Serenely Sinister
by Lumiere de Venise
Summary: How could a girl be so desirable and so irritating at the same time? Even a genius like Shikamaru doesn't know how. (ShikaTema. Cute and short and funny.)


**[AN]: My bff once asked me why I don't talk about ShikaTema and etc if I love both of them and them as a couple, and I was reading fics on them lately, and also talking to another good friend who loves ShikaTema, and well I worked on this last night and somewhat this morning. Enjoy.**

* * *

**XXXXXX**

**XXXXXX**

* * *

On days where the sky was blue and the weather was fine, Shikamaru Nara would be accomplishing what he wished he could do everyday—eye the clouds in the sky as he laid down on shamrock green grass, daydreaming about the world above.

It was "romantic" in a way, his relationship with clouds.

To be able to see the true meaning of "a picture is a thousand words" was quite the feat. A day where he felt as if he could cradle or run his fingers through the white puffs high in the sky…

Those days were the ones that could definitely be described as reticent. Serene. Wistful—

"Is this _all _you do in your free time, Shikamaru?"

Dozed-off eyes staring at translucent aerosols suddenly turned into focused eyes that stared at sapphire irises; in those beautiful blue hues of the "unknown" person in front of him, there was a sinister yet oddly intoxicating shimmer.

Ah, _yes,_ that's right.

There was no way he wouldn't recognize whose shadow was cast over him, not with the eyes being below a Sand Hitai-ate and four pigtails of sandy blonde hair.

Of course, _she _always came around this time, when she was on a mission or just finished one in the Leaf Village, so it wasn't too hard guessing.

"...Suna."

"Nara."

Silence circulated for a few moments, him pondering on what to say in order to get her out of the way of his cloud-sighting and her with a big smirk on her face.

He decided to just get on with the show, and thus tried to answer the female's earlier question. "Cloud-gazing is a rather calming—"

Temari lowered herself and sat on his stomach, and Shikamaru knew that what almost _always_ happened was going to happen once more.

"I came here for a mission, and you didn't use that opportunity to see me at all, _hmm?_ To think you gave me the same old 'clouds are relaxing for you to watch all day and night' crap, too…"

Her fan was dangerously into the ground and to the right side of his neck. A single bead of sweat dropped from the male's forehead.

To his relief but also to his annoyance, she let her left fingers caress his ponytail. At least she wasn't going to pretend to strike him with her fan like last time.

_'__What a borderline lunatic,' _Shikamaru thought to himself as he noticed the blonde's mouth start to move to pester him even more.

"Don't you think it's time to find another terrible excuse, Nara?" she asked as she tugged on a strand of hair a tad too roughly. Shikamaru moved his hands up to move her left fingers out of his split ends but, because _of course _she would, she moved away before he even brushed against her wrists.

"No...I don't really have the time. Doing all that—"

"I know, I know, _'what a drag,' _right? You're so predictable, I can read you like you're an open dictionary sometimes. How 'attractive,'" she interrupted satirically.

Shikamaru was amused. For once, the one-upper kunoichi was wrong. "No, I was going to say it was troublesome."

"Well, I think 'a drag' has a _much_ better ring to it—it really captivates your slothfulness."

Of course she would have a sassy reply—she _always _found a way to have the last word. Shikamaru rolled his eyes and, in response, Temari kissed him.

He didn't move away from it, and kissed her back; secretly, these strange moments filled with sexual-tension between them were always one of his favorites, other than spending time with her in general.

Well, until she did the usual thing that he never understood why she did it, aka bite unto his bottom lip—she licked off the small thread of blood from the bruise and got right off of him. _That _was why kissing wasn't his #1 favorite thing to do with her.

_Women._

"I'll give you exactly two more minutes of watching the clouds. After that, your ass is mine, Nara! I'll be waiting for you near the—er, what is it called again?—the Ichiraku Ramen Restaurant."

Shikamaru sighed before responding, "I know, _yea' yea', _that basically translates to 'you better get the hell up right now, Nara boy, and follow me around town for another date,' Suna. I'm on my way…"

The kunoichi gave him a slick smile that he oddly returned, and then started to go on her way.

After she got a tad too far away for his liking, the ponytail-clad male got up and started to walk after her, his hands in his pockets and his face nonchalant.

Deep in his mind, he hoped that the flowers he was going to send to Temari the last day she stayed in Konoha before going back to Suna were hidden by Ino, as well as not spoiled by Ino's blabbering mouth.

She may of tended to get the best of him, somehow, but he'll have _her _eyes bulged and jaw to the floor for once.

"What a _troublesome _woman…" he drawled out quietly to himself, almost catching up to the slowly-walking Suna ninja.

Dauntless. Hubristic. Vociferous. A woman who could be so irritating yet, somehow, so charming.

No matter how many things he saw in Temari that would usually get on his nerves like how they did with Ino, Sakura, his own _mom, _etc, Shikamaru was oddly fine with Temari basically being his "worst nightmare" and so on—he thought it was the best thing about her.

Perhaps he did not need everything around him to be serene _all_ the time, and even if it could be exhausting and hard work, authentically being in love was worth it.

_'__She's still a 'drag,' though,' _he thought to himself as he tried to shake off the slight flush that appeared on his cheeks.

**[End.]**

* * *

**XXXXXX**

**XXXXXX**

* * *

**[Ending AN]: I feel like I wrote Temari a tad OOC but hopefully it wasn't too noticeable. Until next time.**


End file.
